Showing posts with label harlequin duck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label harlequin duck. Show all posts

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Boulder River 05-12-2018

I got an early start with Cedar and Luna and arrived at the Boulder River Trailhead before 8am.  The road was brutally pot-holed on the way in.  I was worried Luna was going to have a heart attack as she doesn't care for car rides anyway.  This hike is a bit over 8 1/2 miles round trip.



This hike is a treasure - towering trees, beautiful flowers and the beautiful music of Boulder River serenading you for nearly 100% of the hike.  I was happy to see bleeding heart, trillium, violets, and other flowers I couldn't identify.



Ferns were slowly unfurling from their fiddle heads like little spiraled plant sculptures. 




Most people on this trail only come as far as these beautiful falls.  They were stunning with the morning sun shining against that frothing cascade.


The river was milky with glacial till washing out from the peaks above.  It was also very full and you could hear the boulders tapping each other under the current now and then.

These shelf fungi looked so cool with the sun hitting the dew drops on them.  My camera told me to use flash so I did and it was amazing!  All the dew glowed like it was under a black light.  Here is a photo without flash and one with.


At one point Luna was slipping around on the end of a sloped log - she looked like she was moon walking. When I got up to the log I saw that it sloped off to a drop off into the river!  Crazy dog.  I only had them off leash for a little while.  I heard a couple animals in the brush that I never saw and Cedar growled twice in the direction I though that something was. 

At the end of the trail finally, one tired lady and one tired 9 yr old Adventure Dog.  Luna was not tired at all, but for once didn't seem to mind taking a break for ham and cheese.  While we were sitting there I saw a harlequin duck coming down through the rapids.  What a great day!

Pose pretty!

And now a funny face shot!



Wednesday, February 22, 2012

First Beach & Cape Flattery 2-20-2012

The last day of our adventure, we started out on the beach outside of our room, First Beach, which we actually hadn’t walked on yet. 





We wandered down to the end where there was a stranded Coast Guard buoy.


Leaving La Push we went up to Hwy 112 and out to the most Northwest point of the contiguous United States, Cape Flattery.  It is a gorgeous cave-riddled point of sandstone, teeming with turquoise waters and birds of all types. 





One stack was sprinkled with seagulls.

The birds in this video are black oystercatchers.


Here was a pair of harlequin ducks, which bobbed around in the waves and dove down for their dinner.

We were pleased to find a majestic eagle also enjoying the most NW point. 



Here we are at Cape Flattery with the Cape Flattery Lighthouse on Tatoosh Island in the background.  It would be a fun lighthouse to visit!



We had lunch in Neah Bay, where we saw this oddity.

There were actually 5 bald eagles in this harbor.  See the one on top of the fishing boat mast?

We also got to see a kingfisher as we ate, but I had trouble zooming in on him clearly.

What an amazing weekend!   It was hard to leave the song of the surf behind.  The sound of my little fish tank at night is just a sad substitute.